


Work sucks, unless you're here

by doubleA1024



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Hollstein - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 22:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6443701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubleA1024/pseuds/doubleA1024
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Carmilla The Office AU where Carmilla and Laura work together, Carmilla is smitten but Laura doesn't see it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Work sucks, unless you're here

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys like it

“Damn it Carmilla!” Danny yells out.

No one in the office even bothers to look up, except for Kirsch who comes bounding out of his office like an excited puppy.

“What’s going on Danny?” he asks when he reaches her desk.

Danny huffs angrily, pointing at the plate of Jell-O on her desk, that has what appears to be a stapler in the middle of it.

“Carmilla put my stapler in Jell-O again. What are you going to do about it?”

“Hey wait a minute, why are you blaming me? Anyone here could have done that.”

Carmilla smirks from the desk right next to Danny while Kirsch looks back at Danny nodding his head.

“Yeah D-bear, do you have any proof it was Carmilla?”

“Are you serious, she’s literally eating Jell-O right now.” Danny angrily gestures at Carmilla who is smirking with a spoon sticking out of her mouth, and a cup of Jell-O in her hand.

“Hey for all we know you did this to your own stapler and now you’re trying to frame me because you know I like to eat Jell-O”

“That’s a good point Carmilla. Don’t worry, I’m going to get to the bottom of this and get justice for both of you hotties.” Kirsch says with conviction, and then he grabs the plate of Jell-O and heads back to his office.

Carmilla starts laughing as soon as the door to his office is closed and Danny looks up at her with a glare. 

“I guess I just don’t find destruction of company property as funny as you do Carmilla.”

Danny has a look of smug arrogance on her face, like she just won something with that comment.

Carmilla just roles her eyes and looks to the other side of the room where the receptionist Laura is sitting at her desk, covering her mouth in an attempt to muffle her laughter at the interaction.

Carmilla cracks a smile at the look on Laura’s face, and she goes back to her work with a look of pride on her features.  
xxxxxxxx  
“So, what’ll it be today cupcake? The chocolate chip cookies, or the chocolate chunk cookies?” Carmilla sends a wink to Laura who is standing at the vending machines in the break room.

“I don’t always get cookies” Laura blushes as she turns to look at Carmilla who is lounging in one of the chairs by the door with a book in her hand.

Laura turns back around to the vending machine as the snack she bought falls down the chute. 

“Oh really. So whatcha got there then?” 

“Well I got cookies this time, but that doesn’t mean I always get them.” Laura huffs as she joins Carmilla at the table.

“If you say so.” Carmilla teases.

Laura sticks her tongue out in reply, and then happily plops a cookie in her mouth with a grin.

Carmilla grins to herself with her face hidden behind her book.

Xxxxxxxxxx

“D-bear, Carm-sexy! What’s up guys?” Kirsch smiles brightly as Danny stalks into his office. Carmilla followed at a more languid pace, smirking slightly at the clearly agitated Danny.

“Kirsch, I need to know what you are going to do about Carmilla’s pranks. She still hasn’t been held accountable for the Jell-O incident last week, and now she’s at it again.” 

“What did she do this time?” Kirsch asks, trying not to sound too excited.

“Everybody in the office has been calling me Xena all day. I know she convinced them to do it, I just don’t know how.”

“Calm down Xena, maybe they all just decided it was a good nickname for you. Not everything that happens around here is my fault.”

Danny huffs and opens her mouth to retort when the phone at her desk starts ringing. She shoots Carmilla one last glare before heading out to her desk and picking up the phone. 

Carmilla saunters out of the office a few seconds later and heads over to Laura’s receptionist desk. Lafontaine stops her on the way and holds out their hand expectantly.

Carmilla takes five bucks out of her pocket and slaps it into their hand, laughing quietly as she does. Lafontaine grins and gives her a high five, as Carmilla continues over to Laura’s desk.

Laura squints her eyes at Carmilla as she approaches. She shakes her head at Carmilla’s antics, but she can’t hide the small on her face.

“I was wondering what you promised them all to get them to join in today.” Laura says with a knowing smile when Carmilla is close enough that no one else will be able to hear her. 

“Five bucks each. It was totally worth it too. Perry was the only one that didn’t participate.”

“You didn’t give me five bucks” Laura feigns offense.

“Didn’t have to Cupcake, you joined in this morning right away with no questions.” Carmilla smiles.

“I just assumed you were playing a harmless joke. I didn’t realize you had gotten everyone in on it this morning.”

“Yet you participated anyways. It’s what I like about you, so willing to lend a hand.” 

Laura blushes and looks down at her desk. “Well I might not approve of all of your jokes, but this place would be incredibly dull without them.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just come to work everyday and do my job, nothing special really.”

Laura snorts and looks back up at Carmilla. “Uh huh. Sure you do”

Carmilla flashes her a cheesy grin.

“So uh Lafontaine is inviting everyone to get some drinks after work tonight. Are you going to go?”

“I don’t know, these people are bad enough when their sober I’m kind of scared to see what they act like when drunk.” Carmilla has a look of mock terror on her face.

“Oh it can’t be that bad, besides you can also be drunk so you wont notice what they’re doing.” 

“Fair point. I’ll consider going, only if you promise to get completely wasted and dance on a table for me.”

Laura nods enthusiastically, “Why I would have done that either way. It’s not a party if I don’t.” She flashes a grin and Carmilla laughs

“Okay wild child, but don’t think for a second that I wont hold you to that.” She winks at Laura before she turns and reluctantly heads back to her desk. 

Laura takes a deep breath and releases it slowly as she watches her return to her desk, trying to get her face back to a normal color before anyone notices.

Xxxxxxxxx

“Hey Hollis, glad you could make it” Lafontaine calls out as Laura approaches the table at the bar.  
“Hey Laf” Laura greets them with a wave, “Is it just you and Perry here so far?” she asks nodding to the empty seat next to Laf with a half drunk coke in front of it.

“Nah, Kirsch is at the bar getting a drink, although he has been gone for awhile. Danny was here but she got a phone call a minute ago and then just up and left, don’t know if she’s going to be back. Elsie and SJ are drunkenly dancing out there somewhere, and Carmilla got here like five minutes ago and I believe she went to the bathroom with Perry.”

Laura smiles and takes a seat across from them, “Okay cool, I wasn’t sure if everyone was actually going to come tonight.”

Laf gives her an odd look that she doesn’t quite understand, but before she can ask them what it is, Kirsch appears shouting her name.

“Laura, so glad you made it. Want me to go get you a drink?” He asks with a genuine smile that seems almost too excited.

“Got it covered already Beef Cake. Laura here doesn’t want to wait twenty minutes for you to get the bartenders attention again.” Carmilla appears behind Kirsch holding two drinks. She smirks at Kirsch as she slides in-between him and Laura to take the seat next to her.

“Good thinking. That bartender does totally suck at his job” Kirsch responds and Laura nods encouragingly at him before accepting the drink Carmilla handed to her with thanks.

“So this is fun right. Hanging outside of the office, grabbing a few drinks with the gang.” Kirsch spoke with almost too much enthusiasm, gesturing wildly with his hands.

“Yeah Kirsch it really is” Laura replied

“And I don’t want you guys to think you have to act differently around me because I’m your boss. When were not at work you guys are my bros first.”

Carmilla snorted in amusement and Laura lightly smacked her arm to stop her, but she couldn’t hide the amused smile on her own face.

“So what do you say we move this party over to the dance floor huh?” Kirsch asks, already beginning to stand up from his seat.

“I think I’m going to wait for Perry. She should be back any second’ Laf responded.

Kirsch turned his gaze towards Laura and Carmilla.

“I’m good for now beef cake” Carmilla said and Laura nodded in agreement.

“Sorry Kirsch, I need to drink a little more before I consider dancing.”

Kirsch didn’t let his smile waver, “Okay that’s cool, I’ll just go join Elsie and SJ”  
He turned and walked into the dance floor jumping excitedly to the beat.

Perry appeared right after they lost sight of Kirsch, taking her seat next to Lafontaine.

“Sorry, the line for the bathroom was ridiculous.”

Lafontaine smiled, “It’s all good Per. I’m going to go get a refill really quick, you guys want another round?” they ask looking at Carmilla and Laura who both nod yes.

“I’ll come help, I could use a fresh coke anyways” Perry adds standing up again.

Lafontaine smiles at her and they walk over to the bar together.

“So cupcake, not much of a dancer?” Carmilla asks once they are alone at the table.

“No I love dancing, just not anywhere that people can see me. I tend to make a fool of myself, so I just stick to dancing in my living room.” Laura smiles sheepishly.

“I’m sure you can’t possibly be that bad” Carmilla chuckles.

“Oh no I am. Maybe I’ll show you sometime”

“Is that an invitation?” Carmilla asks and Laura’s face immediately goes red.

“I’ve got drinks!” Lafontaine shouts, startling the two girls, as they slam two glasses onto the table.

They take a seat and Perry joins them with two more drinks, and the four of them begin talking aimlessly.

After a while Lafontaine suddenly looks up at Carmilla. Stopping Perry who was ranting about one of the accountants in her department not doing their job right.

“How did you get back from the bathroom so fast earlier? Perry was stuck in line for ages and you were only gone for five minutes.”

“What? Oh, I didn’t go to the bathroom that’s how.” 

Lafontaine seemed satisfied with the answer and went back to sipping their drink. Laura on the other hand cocked her head to the side and eyed Carmilla wearily.

“What were you doing then?” she asked.

“I had a very important phone call to make.” Carmilla smirked, “It was a matter of national security.”

Laura laughed, “Oh god. Are you still trying to convince Danny that she’s being recruited by some secret agency?” She asked.

Carmilla smiled proudly in response. “The summer society is an ancient society of powerful women, and they really need Danny’s help to secure some top secret information.”

Lafontaine burst out laughing. “That explains why Danny all but ran out of here right after you arrived” they said through the laughter.

Perry shook her head and gave Carmilla an admonishing look.

“Why do you insist on messing with her all the time Carmilla? What did she ever do to you?”

“Oh come on, you can’t be serious. She annoys everyone with her over-protective control freak personality. I’m just having a little fun with her,” Carmilla responds  
“I’ve been doing it the entire time I’ve worked here.”

“That’s not true.” Laf cuts in.

“You didn’t really mess with Danny, or even really interact with anyone for the first six months you worked here.” They added after a moment.

“Yeah that’s true” Perry commented, “You were pretty quiet at first, always glaring at people especially Danny. You started talking right around the time Laura was hired I think.”

Carmilla looked up at Perry quickly, shaking her head. “Well that’s just because I didn’t want to get fired the first day, so I waited a little bit before I started screwing with people.”

Laura, who had been quietly listening, finally spoke up. “Well I for one am glad you started talking. I would be so bored everyday if you didn’t entertain me.”  
She smiled at Carmilla warmly.

Lafontaine raised an eyebrow at Carmilla who looked away from Laura with what seemed to be a slight blush, but they decided not to comment on it. No one else had seemed to notice anything so they just brushed it off.

“Alright, well I think it’s time to go stop Kirsch from killing anyone on the dance floor.” Perry said changing the subject.

Laura nodded in agreement and the two of them got up and went to go join Kirsch, and hopefully talk him into calling it a night.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Alright, everybody listen up.” Danny called out, getting everyone’s attention.

“Kirsch asked me personally to take charge of this years Secret Santa. This year things are going to be a little different. First of all, I have a list right here of acceptable gifts that you guys can choose from so we don’t have a repeat of last year.”   
She sent a glare in Carmilla’s direction; no doubt referencing the incident where she had mistakenly given Elsie a sex toy that Carmilla had told her was used for something entirely different.

“So now I’m going to randomly assign you all a specific number and then using a program on my computer the numbers will be paired and then you will know who you have for Secret Santa.” 

“Really. Can’t we just pick names out of a hat Danny?” Laura asks.

“That’s dangerous, you could get several paper cuts. Not to mention very unsanitary, who knows when the last time some of you actually watched your hands was.”

“Oh shut up Xena and pick a name” Carmilla said thrusting a hat full of paper slips in front of Danny.

Danny huffed and looked down at the hat. She looked back up and around the office, noticing quite a few people trying and failing to hide their laughter.

She begrudgingly reached into the hat and pulled a slip of paper out. 

Carmilla smirked and then sauntered over to Laura’s desk. She held the hat out to Laura who chuckled and picked a name. 

She motioned for Laf to come over and when they got there she handed them the bag and let them take it around to everyone else in the office.

After they were done everyone went back to their own work. 

Carmilla waited a few minutes before growing bored again.  
She got up from her desk and walked over to Laura’s. She put her arms on the top of the desk and leaned over.

“So cupcake, who’d you get for secret Santa?” She asked

“It’s called SECRET Santa for a reason Carm.” Laura replied with a sly smile.

“Oh come on. I know you want to tell me, you’ve had a look on your face since you picked the name.”

Laura took the slip of paper out of her pocket. She looked down at it before glancing back up at Carmilla.

“I don’t know….”

“We both know you’re going to tell me eventually. You’re terrible at keeping secrets.”

“Wow. You’re really bad at this whole charming thing Carm. But lucky for you, I was already planning on telling you.”

She held up the little slip of paper for Carmilla to read, and Carmilla had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing out loud.

“Oh man, that’s just too good. So what are you going to get Clifford for Christmas? Maybe a nice collar and leash, or a good chew toy.”

“Carm stop, be nice. Now who did you get for Secret Santa?” She asks

“You’re not supposed to tell people cupcake.” Carmilla said with a smirk, and then she turned and walked back to her desk.

“Carm that’s not fair. Carm!” Laura whisper yelled after her.

Carmilla winked at her as she sat down at her own desk and went back to doing her work.

Xxxxxxx

“Okay guys, D-bear and I are headed to a meeting with corporate. Just finish up your reports today, and if you have any problems let Laura know. She can contact me personally.” Kirsch winks at Laura 

Laura looks around the office, avoiding eye contact, as she doesn’t know how to respond.

“Kirsch, stop making everyone feel uncomfortable and just go to your meeting.” Carmilla calls out.  
Kirsch laughs, assuming that it’s a joke and waves to everyone once more before heading out the door.

They all resume their normal activities, making phone calls and filling out paperwork. After two hours of actually working Carmilla realized that she had done all of her work for the day. Normally Kirsch trying to be funny, or Danny saying something irritating causing an argument interrupts her every twenty minutes.

With nothing else to do, she decides to pay a visit to her favourite distraction.  
“Hey creampuff how goes it?” She asks.

“Carm. Oh you know, just working hard. Trying to be productive while the boss man is away. I’d hate to disappoint him” Laura said

Carmilla snorted, “Oh yeah, he can be a real hard ass.” 

“So what are you going to do with the rest of the day get a jump start on your work for next week?” Laura asked with a sickeningly sweet smile.

“You know, I thought about that. But then I realized I’d rather do literally anything but that.” Carmilla responded with a smirk.

Laura actually laughed out loud at that one, causing a few heads to turn and look their way. It was then that Laura realized that just about everyone in the office seemed to be done with their work and where just wasting time until lunch.

“We should do something Carm, everyone seems bored.” Laura gestured to the rest of the office.

“They always look like that cupcake. This place is boring.” 

“Well then, lets do something about it today.” Laura’s smile is so genuine and hopeful; Carmilla knows resisting isn’t really an option.

“What exactly do you have in mind?”

 

“Welcome to office movie night!” Laura announces excitedly, standing in front of the TV in the conference room.

“Its noon” Elsie responds 

“Well movie afternoon then” Laura replies without missing a beat.

“Is it a good movie?” Lafontaine calls out from the right side of the room.

“It’s The Hunger Games” Laura says with an excited grin.   
Will groans. “Are we at least going to get snacks?”

“Shut it fresh meat. You can go back to twiddling your thumbs at your desk if you don’t want to watch it.” Carmilla replies before Laura can. 

Before anything else can be said, Perry walks in with multiple bowls of popcorn and a plate of brownies. 

She begins to pass them around and Laura hits play on the movie. Laura snags a bowl of popcorn and a few brownies as she makes her way to the back of the room and the empty seat next to Carmilla.

Carmilla snags a brownie and munches on it contently, stealing glances at Laura every once and a while as the movie plays. She’s not really interested in it, but Laura seems to be. Reacting to everything as if its her first time seeing the movie, and Carmilla knows it isn’t considering it was Laura’s DVD they were watching.

Laura’s eyes starting getting heavy halfway through the movie, it was one of her favourites but she was really tired. She hadn’t been sleeping well lately, and the dark room combined with the steady breathing and warmth coming from Carmilla next to her was enough to lull her to sleep.

Carmilla could tell Laura was beginning to fall asleep, but she hadn’t noticed that she had actually fallen asleep until Laura’s head hit her shoulder. 

She looked down at Laura as she felt her breath on the side of her neck. Carmilla smiled softly and shifted slightly so that Laura’s head fit more comfortably.

She spent the rest of the movie trying not to move. 

Everyone slowly trickled out of the conference room once the movie ended. Heading to their desks to finish up whatever work they had left before heading home.

Carmilla waited as long as she could before waking Laura. Softly shaking her shoulder until she awoke, sleepily blinking her eyes against the lights.

“Movie’s over pop-tart. Time to pack up and go home.” She said softly.

Laura was still half asleep as she nodded and clumsily stood up. She grabbed her stuff and was halfway to the parking lot before she realized Carmilla wasn’t with her.

Carmilla was still sitting in the same spot, staring over at the door Laura had walked out of.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Danny walked into the office at her usual time on Monday morning, excited to start the workweek.

She greeted Laura like she always did, placing her coat on the coat rack. She turned to make her way to her desk, and her eyes found Carmilla, sitting there with a smile on her face.

Carmilla being there before her was rare enough, but Carmilla being at work early in the morning smiling? That never happened.

She realized what was causing the smile on Carmilla’s face when she turned toward her own desk. It was completely covered in wrapping paper, with Rudolph all over it.

“Really Carmilla, wrapping paper? Is this the best idea you could come up with?” She scoffed, “I hope it was worth wasting all that time, it’s going to take a few minutes tops to take it all off.”

Carmilla just smirked, “Be my guest big red”

Danny walked over to her desk, sitting in her chair at the same time that she tossed her bag onto her desk.

As soon as her bag hit the desk it collapsed, and she only had a split second to think ‘oh shit’ before she made contact with the chair that also immediately collapsed and she hit the floor.

It took her a few seconds to stand up, her feet slipping on the wrapping paper all over the floor. When she finally got back on her feet she shot a glare at Carmilla, who was still sitting there with a smirk on her face.

“How did you even do that?” She asked with gritted teeth.

“Wouldn’t you like to know” Was all Carmilla said before she turned to her computer and began doing her work.

Danny huffed out an annoyed breath and went to search for her actual desk.

 

Laura managed to sit still for all of five minutes, before she called Carmilla over.

“Okay, how the hell did you do that Carm? That was hilarious, but like impossible.”

Carmilla just laughed at her excited tone. “I’m just that good creampuff.”

“Uh uh, Carm. You’re not getting away that easily. Tell me the truth, how’d you build a fake desk completely out of wrapping paper?” 

“It wasn’t as hard as you might think. Just a YouTube tutorial, some very careful folding, and a lot of tape.” She replied after a minute of Laura staring her down.

“How long did that take you?” Laura asks sounding impressed.

“Oh” Carmilla looks down to hide what looks like a pink flush growing on her cheeks. “Not too long, maybe like a few hours.”

“A few hours, what were you even doing here that early?” Laura whisper yelled.

“Uh, sometimes when I can’t sleep I like to go for a walk and check out the stars. Last night when I walked out of my apartment I grabbed my work keys instead of my house keys. I didn’t want to call anyone because it was 2 a.m., so I came here. I found a large supply of wrapping paper in a closet and figured I could have some fun while I waited.”

“Oh” Laura said, staring at Carmilla. 

“Yeah, I feel kind of stupid about the whole thing so I’d appreciate it if you kept that to yourself.” Carmilla added a little sheepishly.

Laura didn’t respond, seemingly lost in thought. Carmilla nods to herself and turns to walk away when Laura reaches over and grabs her hand.

“Sorry I was just thinking. So you walked all the way over here at 2 A.M., do you need a ride home tonight?”

Carmilla seemed a little taken aback by the question. “Oh, um I was just planning on walking back tonight but yeah a ride would be great. Thanks”

“No problem, and uh for the record. If anything like this ever happens again, you can always call me. I live closer to you than the office and I’m generally awake late anyways. I mean not that I think you make a habit of locking yourself out of your apartment, but you know if anything at all happens you can call me or something.” Laura stopped talking, taking a deep breath and promptly blushing red.

Carmilla just chuckled lightly, “It’s okay Laura, I knew what you meant and I appreciate the offer.”

Laura stared up at her for a few seconds, not really knowing what else to say. Carmilla didn’t seem to mind, she just stared right back. They stayed like that for thirty seconds until the phone ringing startled them both.

Laura grabbed the phone and answered it with a flurry of hand movements. Carmilla shook her head and made her way back to her desk with a small wave to Laura as she went.

Xxxxxxxx

“Okay everybody, try to finish up your work as fast as possibly today, the Christmas party is starting at four and we’ll be doing our Secret Santa presents then.” Kirsch announced excitedly. He was already wearing half of his Santa costume as he stood outside his office door addressing them all.

Kirsch stood there excitedly smiling for another minute or so before turning and heading back into his office.

Carmilla looked up as she heard someone approaching her desk. “Can I help you cupcake?” 

“Are you going to tell me who you got for Secret Santa now?” Laura asked with a pout. “I’ll tell you what I got for Danny.”

“You still haven’t grasped the concept of Secret Santa I see” Carmilla responds with a teasing smile.

“Oh come on Carm, Please.” 

Carmilla looks up to see what she can only describe as the most heart-wrenching sad face she’s ever seen. She knows she wont be able to resist it, she’s honestly shocked that she’s managed to keep this from Laura for as long as she has.

“Okay” Carmilla sighs and Laura’s face immediately morphs into a smug satisfied grin.

Carmilla knows she’s been played but she can’t deny it was well done by Laura.

“I actually got…”

“Hey Laura, can you come here for a sec” Kirsch interrupts from the doorway to his office.

“Sounds important creampuff, you should go deal with that” Carmilla grins, trying not to look too relieved.

Laura huffs, “This isn’t over” and then turns and angrily marches over to Kirsch’s office.

Carmilla can’t help but smile fondly at the adorably angry girl.  
Laura closes the door to the office and turns to Kirsch with an impatient look. 

“What’s up Kirsch?”

“Um, so I need a favor.” Kirsch looks a little sheepish; Laura nods for him to continue.

“So I bought a totally awesome Secret Santa present, but ugh I kind of broke it and now I need to figure out another idea by four.”

“Why can’t you just replace whatever it is you broke?” Laura asks.

“Because I ordered it online and I don’t have time to get another one.”

“Okay, then what exactly would you like me to do?” 

“Well I figured you would be the perfect person to go out and find a new present for me.” Kirsch answers with a smile.

“Why would I be perfect?” Laura asks slightly confused.

“Oh yeah, because I got Carmilla for Secret Santa. You’re the only person she ever talks to so I figured you were my best bet.”

“Oh, um… yeah, okay. I’ll help you get her something.” Laura stammers

“Great thanks so much little L! Lets go we only have a few hours.” Kirsch jumped up from his desk excitedly and made his way towards the door.

Laura shook her head fondly and followed him out of the office. Carmilla gave her a questioning look as she made her way to her desk and grabbed her coat. Laura just shrugged and flashed Carmilla a smile as she made her way out of the building.

Xxxxxx

“How about this one Laura, I think she would love it.” Kirsch asked holding up a stuffed pink panther teddy.

Laura couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her throat when she saw the bright pink teddy in Kirsch’s arms.

“Actually Kirsch, I was thinking more along the lines of this” Laura held up what looked like a toy from the kids section.

“Um isn’t she a little old for toys Laura?” Kirsch looked skeptical, and Laura scoffed pointing to the pink panther that he was still holding.

“It’s not a toy it’s a star projector, she really likes the stars. And it’s on sale” 

“Perfect so we can get that and the panther” Kirsch grinned

“Sure, but I think you’d be better off with the Black Panther instead of the pink one. It’s a little more professional for an office party you know.” Laura reasoned with a smile.

“Oh, good call little nerd. Thanks for the help” Kirsch bounded happily to the registers and Laura decided to let the nickname go, he meant well.

They made it back to the office just in time to start the party and Kirsch was ecstatic. He couldn’t wait to do secret Santa so he made everyone get together and started it before they could do anything else.

“Okay guys lets start, I’m the boss so I will go first. Who had me for Secret Santa?” Kirsch asked excitedly, looking around the room.

Lafontaine stands and hands Kirsch a beautifully wrapped present that he immediately tears open.

“Wow, no way! Thanks Bro this thing is awesome!” Kirsch said holding up a beer hat with a straw on each side.

Laf just nodded in Kirsch’s direction as he excitedly got up and grabbed two soda cans to try out his new hat.

He returned to the group and spoke up as he opened his drinks. “Okay who had Lafontaine, they’re up next.”

Danny stood up and handed Lafontaine a rather large bag. They opened it up and pulled out a bow and arrow, and also what looked like a portable fire extinguisher.

Before Laf could say anything Danny spoke up. “I thought you might like learning how to use a bow, and then I got the extinguisher for your desk since you keep finding ways to start fires back there.”

Lafontaine chuckles at Danny’s words, “Thanks Danny, I’m sure everyone whose desk is near mine appreciates it as well.”

Perry nods emphatically in the background, and then eyes the bow in Laf’s hand skeptically.

“Alright great, lets keep going. Who had Danny?” 

Laura stands up and bounds over to Danny with a wide smile on her face. She hands over a medium sized package that is wrapped in bright red paper. 

Danny takes the present and carefully unwraps it. The first thing she pulls out of the box is a collage full of things that Danny loves. A picture of her holding an award she had won earlier in the year, a patch from the local fire department where she volunteered, and a few other things that no one really understood but Danny seemed very touched. 

Danny looked up at Laura with a smile and was about to say thank you when she noticed what else was in the box. There was a little figurine for her desk that was her in her track gear from college, it was a really thoughtful gift but Danny looked passed that to the dog collar at the bottom of the box, that had a dog tag that said Clifford.

She pulled it out and Laura looked slightly confused and then realization dawned on her face and she whipped her head around to Carmilla.

Carmilla was staring back at Laura with a look of complete innocence. Laura shot her a glare and Carmilla smirked in return. 

Laura turned to explain to Danny that she didn’t know how that got in there, when she heard Kirsch start laughing. 

“That’s hilarious. Who knew little Laura could be so funny. Get it D-bear, Carmilla always calls you Clifford and Clifford is a dog.”

Danny shot a half-hearted glare to Carmilla who she knew was actually behind the gift, before letting it go and turning to Kirsch to get him to stop talking.

“Okay, I feel bad for whoever is next. It’s going to be hard to top Laura’s gift, but whoever got Laura you’re up.”

The room got silent as everybody looked around, waiting for someone to move. After a few awkward moments Carmilla sighs and stands from her chair. She walks over to her desk and pulls a gift and a card out of the drawer. She seems to hesitate for a second before letting the card fall back into the drawer and closing it.

“Merry Christmas Laura” she says quietly as she hands the gift over and then makes her way back to her chair. 

Laura is too busy staring at Carmilla walking away that she doesn’t start opening the present until Lafontaine nudges her shoulder.

She tears off the wrapping paper to find an unmarked box. She looks over at Carmilla with a questioning gaze, Carmilla seems to be completely occupied staring at the hands in her lap.

Laura refocuses on the box in her lap as she carefully removes the lid. She pulls out what looks like a giant square teapot, and then immediately smiles, recognizing the blue box from her favourite TV that she always talks to Carmilla about.

“Thanks Carm, I didn’t actually believe you were listening all those times I ranted about Doctor Who” Laura says 

“Well that was anti-climatic” Kirsch states loudly, “I thought for sure it was going to explode or something with how tense everyone seemed there.”

Carmilla shoots Kirsch a look before offering a small smile at Laura.

Laura just shakes her head in amusement as Kirsch pops up excitedly.

“Well now it’s your turn Carm-sexy, and I had you for Secret Santa so prepare to be amazed.”

Kirsch bounds into his office and comes back out holding a giant Black Panther teddy.

No one says anything, waiting to see Carmilla’s reaction, and everyone is thoroughly shocked when she cracks a small smile. 

“Thanks Kirsch” she says walking over and petting the head of the stuffed animal. 

“Oh, there’s also this too.” Kirsch hands her a wrapped present.

Carmilla takes it over to her desk to unwrap it, but no one is paying any attention to her as the game had moved on and Elsie was opening a gift from SJ.

Carmilla rips off a section of the wrapping paper and then her eyes immediately look up and find Laura’s.

Laura is watching her with a small smile on her face, and she makes her way over once Carmilla has the present unwrapped.

“Wow who would have thought that Kirsch knew you this well.” Laura whispers into Carmilla’s ear.

Carmilla turns around to fully face her with a smirk on her face. “I know I can’t believe he remembered that Panthers are my favourite animal.”

“Wait… you’re joking right?” Laura asks after a moment.

“No actually. I mentioned it once but he just started rambling on about the Pink Panther movie. I am quite surprised he didn’t get a Pink teddy.”

Laura smiles, “Yeah that is quite the surprise.”

“But, I do know for a fact that I only told one person about my love for the stars. So thank you cupcake, this is really cool.”

Laura blushes, “Yeah well I just thought this might be easier to look at when you can’t sleep, and there’s also less chance of you locking yourself out of your house this way.”

Carmilla actually laughs at that one, and Laura’s face lights up at the sound.

“That’s very true.” Carmilla says once she finishes laughing.

“But seriously Laura, thank you. This is one of the best gifts I’ve gotten in a while.”

Laura blushes slightly but her eyes find Carmilla’s

“You’re welcome Carm, and thank you for the Tardis mug. I know it must have been really painful for you to walk into a store that sells this kind of thing.”

Carmilla snorts, “It wasn’t too bad cupcake, I knew I was doing it for you so it was worth it.”

Laura opens her mouth to respond but Carmilla cuts her off  
“And besides you haven’t even seen the best part yet”

“Oh really, and what would that be?” Laura asks smiling at a nervous Carmilla.

“If you ope..”

“Dudes! Cake! Come on!” Kirsch jumps in between the two girls yelling, and they both jump startled at the intrusion.

“We’ll be right there Kirsch, just give us a second” Laura smiled up at him

“Nope. Come on you ladies can chat later.” He grabbed Laura’s hand and began to tug her towards the rest of the party, motioning for Carmilla to follow.

Carmilla sighs and Laura shoots an apologetic smile over her shoulder before the small crowd of people around the cake engulfs her.

Carmilla shakes her head but she cant help cracking a smile at Laura as her bubbly personality turns all the way up and she is talking and laughing with everyone like she hadn’t just been involved in a kind of intense moment just seconds earlier.

Carmilla knows she should join the party, but she just isn’t in the partying mood right now. So she slips out while everyone’s attention is on Kirsch singing Christmas carols, and she makes her way up to the roof.

 

Laura nods along politely as Perry drones on about… something. She really should at least try to pay attention, but her mind really isn’t cooperating at the moment.

She tries to subtly glance around the room, hoping to catch Carmilla’s eye. Carmilla always seemed to have this knack for knowing when Laura needed to be rescued from a conversation.

She’s having trouble locating the other girl, and she is becoming more and more obvious as she strains her neck to glance around the office.

Perry clears her throat and Laura’s attention snaps back to her, a light blush marring her features at being caught not paying attention.

“Are you okay Laura? You seem a little distracted.” 

Laura couldn’t tell if Perry was genuinely concerned or just being sarcastic because she had been ignoring her.

She decided to give her the benefit of the doubt; Perry was usually a very nice person. And maybe she was just really hoping that Perry hadn’t noticed how rude she was being.

“No I’m good, just a little tired. But hey have you seen Carmilla anywhere?” 

“Not since we did Secret Santa, but I haven’t really been searching for her dear.”

“She totally ducked out like 15 minutes ago” Laf said, appearing behind Perry’s shoulder.

“Oh, she must have gone home” Laura said, her shoulders dropping slightly in disappointment.

“No, she took the back door so she must either be hanging out in the empty stairwell or on the roof.” Laf commented.

“Oh thanks Laf” Laura turned and headed toward the stairwell without so much as a glance back.

Laf watches Laura scurry towards the door and then they turn to Perry with a knowing look.

 

Laura all but runs up the back stairs, but she slows to a stop once the door to the roof comes into view. She takes a few seconds to get her breathing under control and runs her finger through her hair. 

She slowly pushes the door open and looks around. She finds Carmilla leaning against an air conditioning unit on the far side of the roof. She smiles as she watches Carmilla staring up at the sky completely unaware of anything else. 

She walks over to Carmilla on quiet feet, and she is about to sit down next to her when Carmilla speaks.

“What are you doing up here Cutie? Did they run out of cake downstairs?”

“Ha ha very funny, I came to see what you were doing.”

Carmilla looked up at Laura with a small smile before scooting over slightly and patting the ground next to her for Laura to join.

Laura slides down the wall and once she settles herself next to Carmilla she bumps Carmilla’s knee with her own.

“So why did you come up here?” 

“Just came up to get a little fresh air, it was getting stuffy in there.” 

Laura could tell there was more to it then that, but she decided to drop it. It was peaceful up on the roof and she didn’t want to ruin it. So she sunk a little further into the wall and leaned her head back, looking up at the stars.

Carmilla isn’t sure how long they spend just sitting on the roof, but after awhile Laura’s hand ends up on Carmilla’s knee slowly tapping out a soft rhythm. She doesn’t know how Laura’s hand ended up on her knee but what she does know is that she hasn’t been paying any attention to the stars since it happened.

Carmilla lets out a deep breath and it catches Laura’s attention, her hand pauses mid-movement and her head turns to Carmilla with a questioning gaze.

“So I was trying to tell you something earlier before Kirsch went cake crazy.”

“Oh yeah, what’s up?”

“Well there’s a little more to your secret santa gift that I wanted to show you.”

“Oh really, and what would that be?”

Carmilla opens her mouth to respond but all that comes out is a groan when the roof door bangs open and Lafontaine steps out.

“Uh hey guys, everyone was looking for you. Kirsch wants to speak to everyone before the party ends.”

“Okay Laf, thanks.” Carmilla sighs; she stands up and offers her hand to help Laura up.

“Carm wait, what were you going to say?” Laura asks tugging Carmilla back to face her.

“Just look inside the teapot when you get the chance.” 

Carmilla doesn’t say anything else as they make their way downstairs.

When they get back into the office Kirsch smiles and immediately begins talking to everyone. Laura isn’t paying any attention as she stares over at Carmilla who looks slightly annoyed but mainly just sad. She is about to make her way over to her when Will steps in front of her, blocking her view.

“Hey Laura I was just talking to Elsie and she told me that you are always staring at me during work, so what do you say I take you out sometime.” He flashes her a smug grin, and Laura freezes.

“You uh want to go out with me?” She asks a little confused.

“Well yeah, I noticed how hot you were on my first day as a temp. now that I’m going to be here full time I figured I might as well make a move, so what do you say?”

Everyone in the office gets suddenly quiet, as the front door slams shut. Laura just barely catches a glimpse of Carmilla’s retreating form as she makes her way into the parking lot rather quickly.

Laura immediately moves to follow her but Will grabs her arm. “You still haven’t answered me”

“Oh right, uh sorry Will. I thought everyone here knew that I was gay but I guess you hadn’t heard. Thanks for the offer though.”

She looks around the office and realizes everyone is getting ready to leave, the party is over, she glances outside and sighs as she watches Carmilla’s car pull out of the parking lot. She makes her way over to her desk to grab her things and follow her out. She grabs her keys and picks up her gift, and then she remembers what Carmilla said up on the roof.

She sits down at her desk and carefully pulls the teapot out of the box. She lifts off the lid and notices a few random objects inside. She reaches inside and pulls out the first object and immediately laughs when she recognizes it. It was a pen that Laura had been using on her first day of work, it had somehow broken in her pocket and gotten ink all over her shirt. She had been so embarrassed and then Carmilla pulled a leather jacket out of a drawer in her desk and gave it to Laura to cover up the stain before anyone else saw.

The next thing Laura pulled out of the teapot was a sticky note with a drawing of Danny falling. Laura had doodled it one day and given it to Carmilla after Danny had gotten her really mad with some stupid comment.

The last thing in the teapot was an old picture of Carmilla from high school. Laura smiled fondly at the terrible picture in her hands. She had found it one day when Carmilla had invited her and a few of the other people in the office over to hang out. It was surprisingly out of character for her, and Laura still hasn’t figured out what prompted the usually anti-social girl to invite them all over, but it had been a fun day and finding the worlds worst school picture in Carmilla’s old yearbook had been the icing on the cake. Carmilla always looked so good, it was funny to see that she had gone through an awkward phase just like everyone else.

Laura looked up from her desk and realized the office was empty and it was getting pretty late. She put the items back into the Tardis teapot and made her way out of the building, promising herself that she would find Carmilla first thing Monday morning and thank her for the most amazing gift she has ever received.

Xxxx

Carmilla was pacing back and forth across her bedroom floor. She had driven home under a haze of anger and regret, and now she was too worked up to go to sleep.

She should’ve known better. It was stupid of her to allow herself to hope. She knew this would be the outcome all along, knew that nobody ever fell for someone like her.  
But she had ignored that nagging voice in the back of her head reminding her of what she was, and now she could only blame herself for this new wave of pain. Because she was broken, she’s always been broken, and eventually everybody that gets close to her sees it.   
She learned a long time ago to keep everyone at arms length, to only let them see what she wanted them to see. It’s easier to pretend to be normal if no one has any idea that you’re living a lie.

But Laura had made her want to try again, and now it was too late. She had waited too long, she should have known that somebody else would notice how amazing Laura was, should have known that she wouldn’t just wait around forever for Carmilla to gather up her courage and let her in.

She needed to take a step back, clear her head and rebuild her walls.

Xxxx

 

Laura walked into the office a few minutes late Monday morning, she had spent a little extra time picking out her outfit today, she just felt a little nervous for some reason.

She hung her coat up on the coat rack and turned to face her receptionist desk where she made eye contact with Will who was sitting in her chair for some reason.

She was about to tell him to get his ass out of her chair when Kirsch called her over to his office. Danny was already sitting in the office as she made her way in and grabbed the only other seat next to her.

“So I’m sure you are wondering why I called you both in here, and Laura why Will is at your desk.”

Laura nodded.

“Carmilla is out on vacation this week, last minute emergency.”

“Is she okay?” Laura cuts him off.

“She’s fine, so the reason Will is at your desk is I don’t think he’s ready to do Carmilla’s job so for the next few days Laura you are going to be moved to sales and Danny you are going to help her out however you can until Carm-sexy returns.”

Danny agreed and made her way back to her desk, Laura was a lot slower making her way out of Kirsch’s office and toward Carmilla’s desk.

She sat down and ignored the questioning look from Lafontaine, and turned on the computer. She spent most of the morning aimlessly scrolling through the Internet, not really focusing on anything.

All she could think was ‘bored, bored, bored.’

“Why is it so cold right here?” She asked out loud, after awhile.

“Carmilla liked the cold so she positioned her desk right under the air vent.” Danny spoke up

“Oh, thanks. Guess I’ll need a jacket for the next couple…” She trails off as an idea hits her.

Carmilla left in a hurry Friday evening after the party and by the looks of things she didn’t come by and clean off her desk early this morning. Laura pulls open the drawer that Carmilla kept her leather jacket in, and sure enough it’s sitting right there where it always was. 

She shrugs the jacket on and the scent of Carmilla engulfs her. She feels a warmth that has nothing to do with the jacket and everything to do with its owner. She can’t wait until this week is up.

Laura spent the rest of her Monday subtly watching Danny work. Carmilla always complained about working next to her so she figured she might as well use this week to find out why.

So far she has come to the conclusion that Danny is annoyingly anal about her desk and its contents. 

The day came to an end and all Laura really had to show for it was a page full of notes on Danny’s habits and potential ways to mess with her once Carmilla returns.

She sighs and stands up from the desk, she walks over to the coat rack by her desk and attempts to put her coat on before she realizes that she is still wearing Carmilla’s leather jacket.  
She takes the jacket off and walks back over to Carmilla’s desk. She opens the drawer to put it back, and she notices an envelope sitting at the bottom of the drawer with her name scrawled across the front.

She knows there must be a reason Carmilla didn’t give it to her and she should just leave it alone, but her curiosity gets the better of her and she grabs the envelope before dropping the jacket in the drawer and heading out of the office.

Xxx

Carmilla took a deep breath before pushing open the door to the office. The first thing she sees is Laura sitting at her desk, looking more beautiful than ever. 

She stops dead in her tracks to stare, she’s just standing there gaping for a few seconds until the sight of Will approaching very quickly snaps her out of it.

Her face sets into a hard grimace as she tries to make her way swiftly past the new ‘office couple’. She doesn’t quite make it as she hears Laura excitedly call her name.

“Carm! You’re back!” Laura comes rushing over to her and wraps her up in a hug.

“Hey cupcake” Carmilla chuckles at her enthusiasm, and then she seems to remember herself as she stiffens and takes a step back from Laura’s warm embrace.

Laura blushes slightly when she realizes that everyone is looking at them  
“Sorry, do you have a moment to chat?”

“Um, I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on, maybe later.” Carmilla answers taking a seat at her desk and turning to her computer, effectively ending the conversation.

“Oh yeah that’s okay, maybe during lunch or something.” Laura turns and heads back to her desk, looking rather confused by Carmilla’s behavior. 

That’s how the entire week goes, Laura trying to get Carmilla alone and Carmilla brushing her off at every corner. 

By the Friday afternoon Laura is fed up with it all, she corners Carmilla in the break room as everyone else is headed out for the weekend.

“Carm, we really need to talk” Laura’s tone means business.   
Carmilla sighs, she knew Laura would get her eventually, she was just hoping to get in a few more days of peace before Laura started gushing about her new boyfriend.

“Creampuff, I’m on my way out. Can this just wait until tomorrow?” She’s pretty sure she knows the answer, but it’s worth a shot.

 

“No it can’t Carmilla. I’ve been trying to talk to you all week, there’s a few things I need to say to you and I also need to yell at you for ditching me for an entire week without any warning, I mean you just ran out of the Christmas party with no explanation and then I find out from Kirsch Monday morning that you’re taking the week off??” Laura’s face is serious as she stares down Carmilla.

“Look Laura I’m sorry I ran off, I just had to get out of there and clear my head. I didn’t mean to upset you, but I really can’t do this right now.” Carmilla pleads, a sad look in her eyes that makes Laura consider backing down.

“No. No this needs to happen, you need to explain yourself for a few things, but you can start with this.” Laura takes an envelope out of her back pocket and hands it to Carmilla.

Carmilla looks confused for a second before she turns it over and sees what is written on the front.

Her face pales and she looks up at Laura with frightened eyes.

“Where… Where did you get this?” She almost whispers

“I borrowed your jacket last week because I was cold, and I saw it when I was putting your jacket back.” 

“Oh, did you umm, open it?” Carmilla’s eyes are looking everywhere but at Laura.

“I was going to, but I figured you had a reason for not giving it to me.”

Carmilla’s shoulders immediately drop the tension they had been holding; “Okay thanks” Carmilla nods and stuffs the envelope into her back pocket.

She moves to walk around Laura and out of the break room, but Laura places a hand on her shoulder and stops her in her tracks.

“I might not have read it but that doesn’t mean I don’t have questions Carm. Why have you been avoiding me all week, did I do something wrong? If I did I’m sorry and I take it back whatever it was because this place is unbearable when you aren’t talking to me.” Laura looks so sad and hurt as she speaks and Carmilla’s face goes from nervous to guilty to sad in mere seconds.  
“Oh Laura, you didn’t do anything wrong and I’m sorry I made you feel like you did. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me being an idiot. I didn’t realize my silence this week was hurting you, every time I looked over at your desk you were busy typing away, I just assumed you hadn’t noticed my absence.”

“Hadn’t noticed Carm, you are my favourite person here, the only one I can talk to most of the time. Of course I noticed that you weren’t talking to me.” 

Carmilla scoffs, “What about Will, I’m sure he’s more than willing to listen to you talk everyday.” She mutters under her breath and Laura is sure she must have misheard her.

“Will? As in overeager temp that doesn’t actually do anything but hit-on everyone and fight with Elsie about whether or not they’re dating? Why on earth would I talk to him?” 

They both look confused for a second, staring at each other.

“Wait, I thought you guys were like a thing now?” Carmilla asks

Laura’s face bunches up in confusion, “Why would you think that, I never even talk to him. Plus, you um…you know I’m gay right?” 

“Well I just thought, I mean you’ve never explicitly said you were, you could’ve been BI or something.” Carmilla mumbles, and Laura laughs.

“Oh wow, where did you get that idea from Carm? The guy is super sleazy, even if I was interested in men it definitely wouldn’t be THAT guy.”

“Oh, I just assumed that was who you had been talking to all week. If you haven’t been messaging him, then what were you doing? I know you don’t actually have that much work.” Carmilla asks, looking up and making eye contact with Laura for the first time since this conversation started.

“I was working on a special project, I actually started it last week and I was going to show you when you got back, but you’ve been all broody” Laura responds with a hint of playfulness.

Carmilla responds with a small smile, thankful that Laura is already forgiving her for her terrible behavior. 

“Yeah… so what is this secret project?” 

“Well I’m glad you asked. Would you please follow me madam” Laura asks with a cheeky smile

Carmilla snorts and gestures for Laura to lead the way. Laura turns and walks out of the break room and over to her desk. She turns back once to make sure Carmilla is following her and ends up tripping over a chair.

Carmilla chuckles at Laura’s embarrassment and Laura shoots her a playful glare once she reaches her desk and sits down at her computer.

Carmilla stands behind her and watches as Laura opens a file with words and what looks like a diagram of some sort. 

“So while you were off on vacation last week I had to sit at your desk, and I realized that you weren’t exaggerating as much as I thought when you complained about Danny.”

“I told you cupcake, she’s unbearable” Carmilla adds

“She’s admittedly annoying, so I thought of a good way to mess with her involving the vending machine, a small amount of theft on your part, and a bag of nickels.” Laura points to a sketch on the screen.

Carmilla smiles genuinely “This is brilliant cupcake, we’ll do it on Monday.” Laura’s face lights up with pride.

Laura emails her plan to Carmilla and they  
Xxxxxxx

“Danny can you come help me, I can’t reach the printer paper and we need some more.” Laura called across the office with a sweet smile on her face.

Carmilla scoffs at Laura’s overly excited tone and Danny shoots her a smug glare. “What’s the matter Karnstein, mad that you can’t help the little lady out because you’re just as tiny?”

Carmilla has to physically bite her tongue to keep quiet; she can’t ruin the prank now just to get into a stupid argument.

Danny looks extremely proud of herself as makes her way over to Laura and Carmilla can’t wait to wipe the smug smirk off her face. She makes her way over to Danny’s desk and grabs everything that will fit, and then as quietly as possible she walks over to the break room.

 

“Thanks for the help Danny, I don’t know how the paper could have gotten so mixed up like that.” Laura’s smile looks almost painful to Carmilla as she steps out of the break room and watches Danny pick up the last few pieces of paper that Laura must have ‘accidently’ knocked onto the floor.  
She sends Laura a wink to let her know ‘mission accomplished’ as they all make their way back to their respective desks. Now they just have to wait and see how long it takes Danny to notice.

Just over an hour apparently. Danny is on the phone when she tries to reach for a pencil to write down some information and she notices there aren’t any on her desk. She spends about a minute searching around her desk before she hangs up the phone and glares at Carmilla.

“What did you do with all of my pens Elvira?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Clifford, but if you need t borrow a pen you could just ask nicely.”

“Ha ha very funny, you got me. Can I have my stuff back now.” Danny said very slowly

“Still don’t know what you’re talking about Xena, but can I borrow your stapler? Mine is broken.” 

“Sure, because I take care of my stuff.” Danny pulled open her desk drawer and stared down for a moment before fixing her gaze back on Carmilla.

“Okay, it’s really not funny anymore. Where is my stuff?” 

“You don’t have a stapler, great guess I have to go buy a new one.” Carmilla smirked as she stood up from her desk and walked toward the break room.

Once she reached the door she turned and saw Danny was right behind her like she had hoped, and Laura was standing up from her own desk across the room.  
She turned and went into the break room and walked straight up to one of the vending machines. She took a dollar out of her pocket and flashed Danny a smile while punching in a number.

Danny looks confused until she hears a loud sound from the vending machine and watches Carmilla pick up HER stapler out of the slot where it had fallen. She took a step closer and looked into the vending machine and then immediately turned to yell at Carmilla.

“Why is all of my stuff in here!?” 

“Wait that’s your stuff? I just thought it was a new office supplies vending machine. This is a little awkward now, do you want me to put the stapler back in so you can buy it?” Carmilla was having trouble keeping her face straight.

“No, I’m not buying back my own stuff!” Danny was staring at her in disbelief.  
Before Carmilla could respond Laura walked into the room and without saying anything she made her way over to the vending machine and put a dollar in.

“Perfect, I’ve been needing a new blue pen” Laura said and she winked at Carmilla as she grabbed the pen out of the machine.

“Well Clifford, if you don’t buy your stuff back then someone else might.” Carmilla spoke up.

Danny sighed angrily and reached into her pocket for her wallet.

“Where the hell is my wallet”

Carmilla pointed to the top right hand corner of the machine, “Um, there it is B4” Danny groans and Carmilla cracks a smile. “I would lend you some cash but I used my last dollar to buy this stapler.”

“I actually have some change you can use Danny” Laura giggled as she handed Danny a Ziploc bag full of nickels. 

Danny just sighs annoyed and reaches for the bag, and then turns to the vending machine.

Laura turns to Carmilla with a proud smile and holds her hand up for a high-five. Carmilla relents with a small smile and gives her a high-five. Laura giggles again before making her way out of the break room; Carmilla watches her go with a fond smile on her face.

She jumps and snaps out of her little daze when Danny clears her throat. ”You know I’m not exactly a fan of your handiwork Carmilla, and I really hate when you get Laura to help out, but even I can admit that you guys go well together.”

“Yeah, I know” Carmilla replies softly before leaving the room.

She spends the rest of the afternoon staring at Laura while she works. Every once in a while Laura will catch her gaze and smile proudly, or gesture at the back of Danny’s head and chuckle before returning to her work.

A few times Danny catches Carmilla staring and she shakes her head slowly before going back to work.

By the end of the day Carmilla is driving herself mad. She takes her time packing up her stuff and by the time she is ready to leave the office is basically empty. Laura is standing by the door and looking at Carmilla with questioning eyes.

Carmilla just shrugs in response and makes her way over to where Laura is waiting for her.

“So got any exciting plans tonight Karnstein?” Laura asks once she reaches her.

“Just going home, how about you cupcake?”

“I’m probably going to go home and order some take-out because I need some real food, but god knows I can’t cook to save my life.” 

Carmilla chuckles, “Finally getting tired of those cookies?”

“Never, but even I need real food every now and then.” 

“Well I hate to break it to you creampuff, but take-out isn’t the best option if you want real food.”

“Well it’s about as close as I’m going to get, unless you want to come over and cook for me.” Laura scoffs

Carmilla laughs and then looks over at Laura.  
Laura stops walking and looks up at Carmilla, her face turning serious.  
“Hey Carm can I ask you something?”

“Sure cupcake, what’s up?” 

“I wasn’t going to ask you, I really wasn’t, but I can’t help it and I honestly thought you were going to tell me when I gave it to you but you didn’t and now it’s driving me crazy.” Laura rambles

“The question cutie” Carmilla interrupts the ramble softly

“Right, um what was in that envelope that had my name on it? I mean I know it was a paper but what was on it, what did it say?” Laura bites her lip nervously as she looks up to gauge Carmilla’s reaction to her question.

“You really want to know what it says?” Carmilla asks softly, and Laura softly nods her head.

Carmilla takes a shaky breath, steps forward, gently cups Laura’s face and kisses her.

She only intended for it to be a quick kiss but as soon as her lips touched Laura’s all coherent thought left her brain. She sunk into it and when Laura’s arms wrapped around her she let herself get completely lost in the feeling of it all.

When they finally broke apart Carmilla couldn’t bring herself to step back so she rested her forehead against Laura’s. 

She leaned in again, slower this time to give Laura a chance to come to her senses and when Laura didn’t move she closed the distance until their lips were a hairsbreadth apart

“The letter said I really love you Laura Hollis.” Carmilla whispered, and Laura’s breath hitched before she reached up and pulled Carmilla into another kiss, this one was less tentative and Carmilla couldn’t hold back the moan that escaped her mouth when Laura’s tongue found it’s way in.

When they broke apart again Laura couldn’t stop giggling and Carmilla had a smile on her face that she couldn’t wipe off if she tried. She grabbed Laura’s hand and started walking towards her car.

“Where are we going Carm?” Laura asks

“To my house, I’m going to cook you some actual food”

Laura stops and tugs on Carmilla’s hand to turn her around. She leans up onto her toes and places a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth. 

“I love you too Carmilla, and not just because you’re going to cook for me, although it definitely doesn’t hurt your case.”

Carmilla laughs and pulls Laura in for one more kiss before climbing into her car.

 

When Carmilla arrives at work the next day, ten minutes after Laura walked in because they didn’t want anyone to know Laura had spent the night at her house, she shoots Laura a smile and a wink and as she makes her way to her desk she hears Danny mumble “About time” under her breath and Lafontaine hands Perry twenty bucks.

Carmilla just smiles at them all, any other day she would kill all three of them for what she just witnessed, but today she couldn’t care less. She puts her stuff down on her desk and walks back over to Laura, everyone figured it out already anyways so she leans down and kisses her. 

She could definitely get used to starting off the work day like this.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, or if you notice any mistakes.  
> Find me on tumblr, same username, if you wanna chat.


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